Customer Reviews

Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister 2-Pak

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Any fan of this series is going to want both these boxed sets eventually, so it is a good idea to get them all at once in this 2-pack. This sitcom was brilliantly written, expertly acted and offered some of the most intelligent dialogue you will ever hear on a sitcom (you could study for your SATs listening to Sir Humphrey and Bernard Woolley--and the minister, to a lesser extent). Who says you need scantily-clad women and off color jokes to make great comedy. Three middle aged men talking government did quite nicely.

The first set includes 21 episodes on four discs with photos on the inside of the case. It also offers a touching 47-minute tribute to Nigel Hawthorne. Anyone who has read Hawthorne's autobio Straight Face will recognize some of the people and places featured in this documentary. The second set offers 17 episodes on three discs including the 1-hour Christmas special "Party Games" aired in 1984 showing the political intrigue leading the way for Jim Hacker to become Prime Minister. This set includes a nice 30-minute tribute to Paul Eddington. Other extras are included in this set.

One of the best comedies ever made by the BBC is now available in this rather large megas pack. Containing every episode of both Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister you can rewatch it all now. Some great performances are on show here, and this is definitely the thinking person's sitcom.

Believe-it-or-not, humour without vulgarity, popularity without beautiful people or nudity.
This great British comedy serial is possibly the single best TV serial of all time.
The performances by Paul Eddington (as the bumbling, bumptious but likeable Minister & then Prime Minister), Derek Fowlds (as his very likeable Private Secretary), and of course Nigel Hawthorne (as the supercilious, conniving & of course hugely entertaining Permanent Secretary) were all outstanding. It was unfair in the extreme, incidentally, that only two of the three (Eddington & Hawthorne) were awarded OBE's for their performances, but poor Derek Fowlds wasn't.
The scriptwriters excelled themselves, producing an absolutely fascinating insight into the world of British beuraucracy, yet managing a laugh a second.
The production values were outstanding, as was the supporting cast.
Even twentyfive years later, this serial remains entirely up-to-date, and could well have been written just last month.
All-in-all, a rare gem, and a must-have for any DVD collection.

If you weren't around when these programs were on A&E in the mid-1980s, you are in for a treat. Here you have two incredibly savvy actors, Nigel Hawthorne and Paul Eddington, playing foils to each other as the two series poke fun at the foibles of parliamentary democracy--or, given what we supposedly learn about the civil service, is it a democracy at all? Most of the "Yes, Minister" series was new to me, and the episodes are just as delightful as those in the "Yes, Prime Minister" series to come. Just watching Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appelby manipulate situations with the most verbose command of bureaucratese is priceless. His machinations make the moments when his minister, Jim Hacker (Eddington), gets the better of him that much more satisfying. Add to this mix the wonderfully dry and sardonic Derek Fowles as the minister's private secretary, Bernard (who has to be loyal to both men at the same time!), and you have two sets of DVDs you'll want to watch again and again. If you're tired of seeing repeats of the same old Brit-Coms on your local PBS station these days, this complete pairing is a must. Stellar television!

When the creators of the show, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynne

came up with the idea for "Yes, Minister" in the 1970's, they

wondered whether a comedy consisting entirely of "elderly men sitting around talking about government" would go over with the viewers. In fact they created one of the greatest comedy programs of all time. Of course, the casting was a major factor, and they had the good luck to come up with such a magnificent cast. What is interesting is that for Nigel Hawthorne (Sir Humphrey Appleby), this was his first real success in the world of acting although he was around 50 years of age at the time, so this program's creators saw the potential in him that so many others missed. It is absolutely amazing how he is able to memorize and recite with a straight face so many unbelievably long and convoluted sentences that are one of the trademarks of this show. Paul Eddington (Jim Hacker) was, on the other hand a well known actor, and he is able to go from being befuddled to well-meaning to conniving in a single episode.

Derek Fowlds (Bernard Wooley-a funny name) is also good as Hacker's personal secretary.

I mention in the title that the program is depressing because one sees how politicians take the public's tax money and use it to pay off other politicians in order to thwart the best interests of those taxpayers. In one of the supplements to the DVD discs there are interviews with real British politicians of the 1970's and 1980's and they say that the program does reflect much of the reality of politics, but it is not quite a cynical as is reflected in the show. In any event, if viewers develop

a better understanding of politics and it motivates them to get involved to keep the politicians on the level, then the world is not getting just entertainment from this series.

There may be some confusion in the program for people who are not British because of the lingo peculiar to British Politics (e.g. repeated references to "Number 10" which means the Prime Minister's Office) or various historical events or personalities in British political history which the viewer may be unaware of.

My favorite line is stated by a character who had been an MP in the House of Commons and was given a peerage so he moved over to the House of Lords. When asked what he thought of the change, he replied "I've gone from the animals to the vegetables!".

Priceless!

This show Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister 2-Pak is typical of the type of British humor appreciated by American audiences, constantly poking at the incredulously inept politics of government (probably ANY government!). It would, however, be so much more enjoyable if this edition had closed-captioning, or at least subtitles, but alas!, it has neither, despite what the product description describes on [...]. The articulation of British English is actually quite understandable in this series, but the occasional lengthy meanderings of Sir Humphrey (the civil servant who works for the Minister) are paralizyingly confusing without some text to follow! But then again, that's partly what makes him so funny to watch, but also what makes him so absolutely maddening to the Minister, so wonderfully played by Paul Eddington!

And then there is Yes, Minister.

It is perhaps the most brilliant verbal communications ever committed to celluloid. The series is far beyond any thing ever produced by an American Television. I doubt such thing can be ever aired on the American Television. The series just opens up to everything and anything, and unfolds with precision. The storyboard is relatively simple for someone who is adherent to political intrigue. The whole fabric of our society is challenged by the writers of this masterpiece. The politics of religion, education, unemployment, arts, literature, media, newspaper and yes the science of creating heroes. The tragic thing about this series is that Jim Hacker really wants to make things better. In the beginning he is adamant to bring good for the humanity. But over again and again he cut short, far short of even starting. Yes Minister not only resembles a novel by Kafka, but rather it is.

I wish they had made more of the episodes. It is an absolute tragedy that such masterpiece have only about 40 episodes while garbage like Seinfeld and cheers have volumes and volumes dedicated to them.

A thumping good show!

With no nudity or vulgarity to speak of, this series is a delight to own and watch over and over again. If you ever wanted to understand the inner-machinations of politics, then this is a series to savor. Paul Eddington (Good Neighbors) is superb as well-intentioned but "dim" Minister Hacker (later Prime Minister, and Nigel Hawthorne as his much brighter Secretary are perfectly matched in this funny and brilliantly observed comedy of manners. The dialogue in many of the episodes alone is priceless, and Eddington and Hawthorne are well-cast in this poltical marriage of inconvenience. Should be required viewing by political science students on both continents! The set also contains interviews and documentaries on the show with commentaries on Eddington and Hawthorne. Not exactly the side-splitting humor and antics geared toward the Fawlty Towers crowd, but a pleasure to watch! Reportedly, this was Margaret Thatcher's favorite show...

Most comedy relies upon exageration to achieve humour (think 'absolutely Fabulous' for this principle carried to an extreme). This series relied upon a different strategem: Complete, deadly accuracy. Bureaucrats and politicians- and their interaction- are portrayed exactly as they really are. Add to this a second unusual twist- treating its audience like they actually have brains and might enjoy intelligent conversation. The result is a timeless treasure. This was the greatest comedy series to ever appear on television.

This is a HILARIOUS sitcom from Britain from the late 1980's-early 1990's. It is full of very sarcastic, cynical humor between the antagonist bureaucrats against [Prime] Minister Hacker, who is only trying to reform Britain in ways he believes would be improvements. It does take some knowledge/appreciation of government--particularly the British--to fully get the most out of the jokes though. Namely, British ministers are assigned cabinet levels as status symbols, not for any particular background in the field, so they are often at the mercy of the "lifers" that staff the ministry--meanwhile, the former are often due to change within a couple of years at most, so the Secretaries tend to just go around them ayways. Second, the British Parliament is much more closed and secretive than the American government. With these in mind, my two favorite jokes come from the first episode "Open Government" on the original "Yes, Minister" disc:
"There are 2 types of chairs for two types of ministers: the kind that are very rigid but fold up, and the kind that are soft and go round-and-round in circles"
and
"He is trying to create an open government"
"That's proposterous! You can either have 'OPENESS' or you can have 'GOVERNMENT'!"